Griffiths also presented dimensions and calculations of the ship on pp 188-189 and discussed the masts and spars on pp
336-340 in the same volume.

1854 January 3

Launched at the shipyard of Donald McKay, East
Boston, MA, USA, for the Black Ball Line (James Baines & Co.), Liverpool.

No timid hand or hesitating brain gave form and dimensions to the
Lightning. Very great stability; acute extremities; full, short midship
body; comparativily small deadrise, and the longest end forward, are points in
the excellence of this ship.

Sailed Boston - Liverpool in 13 days,
20 hours under command of Captain James Nicol Forbes who had left the
Marco Polo to take command of Donald McKay's new clipper.

In a Letter to the Editor of the Northern
Daily Times dated, March 8th, 1854, Captain Forbes
disputes a claim from Captain Eldridge of Red Jacket of having done the
fastest Atlantic crossing.

Not a ripple curled before her cutwater, nor did the water break
at a single place along her sides. She left a wake straight as an arrow, and
this was the only mark of her progress. There was a slight swell, and as she
rose, one could see the arc of her forefoot rise gently over the sea as she
increased her speed.

Duncan McLean: Boston Daily Atlas, 1854.

1854 March 1

On the this day the Lightning sailed
436 miles, which is the longest day's run recorded by a sailing ship.

March 1. — Wind S., strong gales;
bore away for the North Channel, carried away the foretopsail and lost jib; hove
the log several times, and found the ship going through the water at the rate of
18 to 18½ knots per hour; lee rail under water, and the rigging slack; saw
the Irish land at 9:30 p.m. Distance run in the twenty-four hours, 436 miles.

From the Abstract log.

1854 May 14 - July 31

Sailed Liverpool - Melbourne in 77 days.
The round trip from England to Australia and Back has been discussed by
John Willis Griffiths in the
U.S. Nautical Magazine and Naval Journal, Vol. III (1855-56). Excerpts from a passenger diary from this passage
have also been reprinted in the Dog Watch No. 18 (1968) & 19 (1969).

1854 August 20 - October 23

Sailed Melbourne - Liverpool in 64
days 3 hours.

1855 January 6 — March 20

Sailed from Liverpool to
Melbourne in 73 days [78
days according to Stammers]. Captain Anthony Enright succeeded Captain Forbes
as master who was to assume of command of a new ship, the unlucky
Schomberg.

1855 April 11 - June 29

Sailed from Melbourne to Liverpool in 79
days. Eleven issues of The Lightning Gazette printed onboard during the
passage have been reprinted in Sea Breezes Vol. 18-19 (1954-1955).

1855

Sailed from Liverpool to Melbourne
in 81 days.

1855 December 28

Sailed from Melbourne to Liverpool.

1856 May 6 — July 13

Sailed from Liverpool to Melbourne in
68 days 10 hours.

1856 August 28 — November 20

Sailed from Melbourne to
Liverpool in 84 days.

1857 February 5 — April 15

Sailed from Liverpool to
Melbourne in 69 days 6 hours.

1857 March 19

Sailed 430 miles in 24 hours while bound for
Australia. This is the second longest day's run recorded by a sailing ship.

1857 May 11 — August 1

Sailed from Melbourne to Liverpool
in 82 days.

1857 August 25 — November 20

Sailed from Portsmouth to
India in 87 days with 650 men and officers of the 7th Hussar regiment.

1859 February 20 — 11

Sailed from Melbourne to Liverpool
where she arrived on May 11 after 80 days.

1859

Sailed from Liverpool to Melbourne in
69 days.

1861 June 10 — August 30

Sailed from Liverpool to
Melbourne where she arrived on August 30 after 81 days.

1862 November 30

Struck a previous unrecorded submerged rock near Point Nepean at Port Phillips Head. At the time the Lightning had a cargo of 4372 bales of wool and 18.650 oz. of gold. The received damage to the forefoot and keel was quickly repaired.

1867

Sold to Thomas Harrison, Liverpool, but continued to sail
for the Black Ball Line.

1869 October 31

Burned while loading wool at Geelong. The
disaster was described in the
Geelong Advertiser, November 1, 1869.

In a Letter to the Editor of the Scientific American published
November 26, 1859, Donald McKay writes:

Although I designed and built the Clipper Ship Lightning
and therefore ought to be the last to praise her, yet such has been her
performance since Englishmen learned to sail her that I must confess I
feel proud of her. You are aware that she was so sharp and concave forward
that one of her stupid captains who did not comprehend the principle upon
which she was built, persuaded the owners to fill in the hollows of her bows.
They did so, and according to their British bluff notions, she was not only
better for the addition, but would sail faster, and wrote me to the effect.
Well, the next passage to Melbourne, Australia, she washed the encumbrance
away on one side, and when she returned to Liverpool, the other side was also
cleared away. Since then she has been running as I modelled her. As a specimen
of her speed, I may say that I saw recorded in her log (of 24 hours) 436
nautical miles, a trifle over 18 knots an hour.